matboard Archives - Eileen Hull

Hi everyone it’s me, Tonya! If you have been following along you know Eileen is away teaching classes. So today I’m “taking over” the blog to show you how I created this simple Fall is in the Air House!

Creating the House

To start this project, cut two House Ornament Diecut from matboard. Cut the flap off one of the house diecuts on the bottom as seen in the photo below.

Ink an Art Dauber with Butter Chalk Ink from the Cornucopia Chalk Paintbox Inks. This set of inks was used for the whole project including inking both house diecuts. Place the Mandala Art Screen on top of the house diecut and load a spatula with Extra Heavy Gel (Matte) Apply the gel over the art screen. Complete the same steps for second house diecut and let both diecuts dry. This was my first time I ever used extra heavy matte gel and I discovered I absolutely LOVED it!

Next ink Art Daubers with Harvest, Dark Brown and Pumpkin Spice Chalk Inks and randomly ink both house diecuts. Once dry, adhere both house diecuts together and add gems around both sides of the roof.

Decorating the House

I must have been in a crafting zone because I forgot to take photos of the steps of how I put the flower together. YIKES! Cut six flowers and one leaf from crinoline fabric from the Journaling Card, Flowers and Leaves Diecuts. The glass tray was inked with Red Barn and Dark Moss Chalk Inks, and water was added to both inks. Six flowers were placed into the Red Barn and the leaf was placed into the Dark Moss Inks. All diecuts were completely covered before I removed them to dry. The final step for the flower was adhering all together. I added the leaf to the back of the flower before adhering to the corner of the roof.

The tiny chipboard flower I inked with Red Barn. The Watercolor Paper leaf was inked with Mint Chalk Inks. The leaf was added to back and a sequin to the center of flower. I then placed a Foam Pop Dot to the back of the flower and above the window. The house was finished by tying a bow from cording and adding to the side of the roof. I hope you have been following Eileen as she travels and her Inspiration Team as they share their some fun crafting ideas!

Thanks for stopping by, hope your day is wonderful and enjoy creating!

Just a quick post to show how to assemble the Sizzix Journal die and create inserts. There has been so much interest and chat about this versatile die, I thought it might be good to do a post and keep all of the resources in one spot. Thanks so much for your interest!

Here’s what the Journal die packaging looks like:

The Journal is a ScoreBoards die, designed to cut and score thick material like matboard and chipboard, forming a rigid cover for your book! Matboard is the perfect blank canvas- add paint, ink, stamps, sprays, texture paste, stencils, buttons, beads, and more. You can also cut it from paper, fabric, felt, paper leather, metal or combinations of these materials. You can run the matboard through embossing folders too, creating a rich dimensional cover.

One of the things I love about this die is that it’s so easy to put together. And once you make one… well, you’ll see- they are addicting! There are so many ways to use this die- make art journals, planners, for a special occasion, photos, baby book, guest book, wedding journal, junk journals, and traveler’s notebook. It’s your Journal- decorate it as you’d like in the colors, style and materials you’d like!

In this Facebook Live video, I show how to assemble the Sizzix Journal, after looking at some amazing samples from the Inspiration Team. Please watch and see how easy it is! Skip ahead to about minute 30:- for actual assembly.

The Journal measures 8 3/4″ x 4 1/2″ when assembled. Three to four inserts may be added to the book. Watch here to see how to make Journal inserts and how to thread the elastic though the spine to keep the inserts in place:

NOTE- I admit I am not an expert book maker. Here’s a quick tutorial from my friend Pam Keravuori.

Signatures

The story I’ve heard suggests that the sections, or “signatures”, which are the sets of pages sewn into a book, supposedly got their name from monks. When monks finished hand-writing their section of a book, they signed it and that section became known as a signature. Now it means sheets of paper, or “folios”, stacked and folded in half. A signature may be one folio, or one sheet of paper folded in half to make four pages, but generally it is two or more sheets/folios (and sometimes more folds).

The Pamphlet Stitch

The pamphlet stitch is probably the simplest and most popular binding technique for notebook inserts like ours, because you can stitch the pages and the cover of the signature at the same time. You can use 3 or more holes along the fold, but the trick is to start and finish on the same side (whether inside or outside) and have both ends of the twine end up together at the same hole to tie off. Usually this means having one long stitch go over (rather than through) the center hole.

So, for a 3-hole pamphlet stitch, your needle would go through the center hole from inside to outside (or reverse), then through one end hole from outside to inside, then across the center hole to the other end hole, going through from inside to outside, then back through the center hole from outside to inside. Both ends of your thread would now be on the inside at the center hole, ready to tie around and secure the long stitch that crossed over the center hole.

Alternatively, if you stitch with a back stitch and wind up with one thread end inside and one thread end outside, you can make a loop knot to anchor the thread around the earlier stitch at the hole before going through to join the other thread end. This is called a saddle stitch binding.

I usually use 5+ holes for my pamphlet stitch because I think it makes the spine sturdier and puts less pressure on each hole (to avoid tearing). More holes also help keep smaller sized papers in place, so they don’t slant or settle to the bottom. As I start stitching, I leave a thread tail long enough to reach near the bottom of the signature, where I hold onto it against the paper until the 2nd or 3rd stitch, when it becomes secure (without a knot until the tying off). General advice is to always pull your thread parallel to the spine in the direction you’re stitching, since pulling the thread straight out from the spine tends to tear the holes.

Please follow me on Facebook at Eileen Hull Designs and watch for extra LIVE shows in honor of this new Heartfelt Sizzix release! I hope you have enjoyed seeing how to assemble the Sizzix Journal and will consider getting one for yourself!

If you would like to purchase a die, there are a few left in my Etsy shop!